So last weekend I bought and read Chris Powell's book, Choose to Lose: the 7 day carb-cycle solution. I wanted to try something new because I seemed to be, in what I call, a roller-coaster plateau, never being able to break through the 150lb barrier. Not for more than a single day anyhow. His book is written very candidly, and an easy read. I wished he talked a little bit more about the science, but that's because I'm a science nerd (animal biologist). But, I bought what he was preaching. It made sense based on my working knowledge of physiology, so last Sunday I decided to would follow his program and see how it worked. In a nutshell:

Sunday - high-carb/high-calorie (1500 or more) day - Rest Day

Monday - low-carb/low-calorie (1200) day - AM "Shaper", PM "Shredder"

Tuesday - high-carb/high-calorie (1500) day - PM "Shredder"

Wednesday - low-carb/low-calorie (1200) day - AM "Shaper", PM "Shredder"

Thursday - high-carb/high-calorie (1500) day - PM "Shredder"

Friday - low-carb/low-calorie (1200) day - AM "Shaper", PM "Shredder"

Saturday - high-carb/high-calorie (1500) day - PM "Shredder"

A "Shaper" workout is basically 10 minutes of push-ups, sit-ups and squats (circuits).

A "Shredder" workout is 6 minute circuits of cardio in which you do 3 mins low intensity, 2 minutes moderate intensity, and 1 minute high intensity. In week 1, he prescribed 5 shredders per workout.

Foodwise, you are supposed to eat every three hours (5-6 meals a day; protein at every meal). Also, you can choose to make Sunday a total cheat day and eat whatever you want (in moderation of course), or you can have a single cheat meal on each Tues/Thurs/Sat as long as it isn't your last meal of the day. There's more to it than this, but I'm not re-writing the book here (so if you want the info, go buy it)!

So obviously I did not follow the program to a perfect T. Overall, I actually ate less calories than I was supposed to, which he cautions against because the whole point of carb-cycing is to keep your body from going into "starvation" mode, while building muscle (on high carb days) and burning fat (on low-carb days). So if I do start to plateau I will start eating more, but anyhow, I was still eating about 1350 cals on high days and about 1150 on low days, so I kinda did it? And instead of his "Shapers" I did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD (which is longer and does more than just push-ups, sit-ups and squats, though it does also include all of those things). I missed my Wednesday night Shredder because I was out of town for the day and did not return until late. On Thursday, instead of the "Shredder" I did Jillian's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism DVD, and on Saturday instead of the "Shredder" I did Jillian's No More Trouble Zones DVD. Can you tell I'm a big fan of Jillian's workouts? Because they work! And, when I did do my "Shredders" I did more than 5. I don't drive all the way to the gym in the cold weather to only be on the treadmill for 30 mins. Anyhow, that about sums up my week.

Here are my results from week 1:

Weight: -3.8lbs

% Body Fat: -0.4% (Lost 1.7lbs in lean mass and 2.1lbs in fat)

BMI: -0.6

Notable Measurements:

-0.75 inches around the chest

-1.0 inches around the waist

-1.0 inches around my "belly" (because my belly and the smallest part of my waist are two very different beasts)

-0.75 inches around the hips

-0.5 inches in the upper thigh

-1.0 inches in my bicep (for reals? Holy ball sack! Thanks Jillian!)

Non-scale Victory: Last Sunday I was in my size 10 jeans. Now I can fit into my size 8 jeans (tight but wearable!)

Thank you Chris and Jillian. I will continue this program and update again after week 2!